Here’s a closer look at some of the details of brewing magnate George Ehret’s tomb: the face of an Egyptian figure on the bronze doors, and the two lions guarding the entrance.
Ehret bronze door, Egyptian head
Serious NYC subway geekery alert. Who cares about the undersides of two different elevated trains?
So what if one has three tracks (and always did), while another line had four, but now one is empty?
Elevated at Gunhill Road
Gargoyle rainspouts adorn the Belmont Memorial Chapel, along with many other rich, Gothic details, like the story of St. Hubert carved in relief on the door lintel and the boar’s head near the roof.
Gargoyle
Some of Woodlawn Cemetery’s impressive turn-of-the-century mausoleums near the Jerome Avenue entrance:
The Bache mausoleum features the Egyptian motifs that were so popular at the time.
Bache mausoleum
Joel, Irene, and I walked through Van Cortlandt Park, along Mosholu Parkway, and into the Botanical Garden. What a perfect day!
Tuliptree allee by library
These Tuliptrees have spread out so much and have been so well-tended, they don’t look much like their tall, telephone-pole-like brethren in Harriman State park.
Five more impressive mausoleums from Woodlawn Cemetery, all near the Jerome Avenue entrance:
Coster Mausoleum
Borden mausoleum
Ehret mausoleum
When he died in 1927, George Ehret was the wealthiest man in New York, having made his fortune as the owner of the Hell Gate Brewery. Obviously a man of forethought, Ehret had his Romanesque Revival mausoleum built in 1900, with lions out front, by sculptor J. Massey Rhind.
Armour mausoleum
Manger mausoleum
It’s not easy to find Robert Moses’ crypt, because even though it is marked on Woodlawn Cemetery’s map, it is only one unassuming marble plaque amongst many others in the Van Cortlandt Community Mausoleums. (Too bad his other monuments in the city were not so unassuming.) But, if you look in the Elm Court, you can gaze on the final resting place of the man who changed the face of New York City in the mid-20th Century
Elm Court – Robert Moses crypt
Some of the highlights along Woodlawn Cemetery’s North Border Avenue:
North Border Avenue sign
Piccirilli bronze statue
Navarre mausoleum and lawn chairs
cartoonist Tomas Nast grave
White Oak by 233rd Street
statue of Union soldier
Another Egyptian-inspired Woodlawn mausoleum, complete with a pair of female sphinxes and Christian symbolism.
Woolworth Mausoleum
